[nagdu] Virtual Guide Dog

[Hope Paulos]

I actually tried SL a few months ago. There is a program called radagast 
(sp) that will read everything on the screen. I think it is wonderful that 
guide dogs exist even in the virtual world. I just wish that SL was mor 
blind-user friendly. You can't do a lot of things on there like 
build/program or even change your appearance. But the virtual guide dog is a 
step in the right direction.
Hope and Beignet
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tamara Smith-Kinney" <tamara.8024 at comcast.net>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 11:59 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Virtual Guide Dog


> Jewel,
>
> I have never heard of Second Life, but I am instantly fascinated!  First 
> of
> all by the fact that there's an on-line text game to play, second by the
> virtual guide dog in it!
>
> Too stupid tired right now to look it up right now to learn more detail.
>
> Tami Smith-Kinney
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Jewel S.
> Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 7:18 PM
> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [nagdu] Virtual Guide Dog
>
> Hi all! I came across a most interesting thing today....a little
> background first.
>
> I used to play Second Life, before my injury that took my vision. I
> loved the ability to build, program, and converse. I was a member of
> many virtual groups, with both real-world interests (like military
> wives) and virtual interests (like learning how to program items to do
> this and that and everything). I absolutely loved Second Life.
>
> However, in 2008 when I lost my vision, there was no alternative way
> for blind people to play Second Life. So, when my vision went from
> 20/70 to 20/200 to 20/600, I said good-bye to all my friends on Second
> Life. My virtual family (a few friends who considered me like a
> sister/daughter) cried when I left, and while I knew some of them as
> their real-life selves, since they were in another part of the world,
> continuing contact was difficult (many of them were British).
>
> I found a text SL program recently (<textsl.org/>) that is for blind
> and VI players of Second Life. So, I looked into SL for the blind
> more.
>
> I came across an article about a player of SL, VI herself, who is
> programming a virtual guide dog, named Max, who will help blind
> players navigate Second Life. Currently, it just looks good (with its
> harness on a lovely sled dog type dog) and allows the avatar to follow
> another avatar who acts as a sorted of sighted guide. But they are
> working on the programming. The website is
> <http://www.virtualguidedog.com/>
>
> What do you all think of this?
>
> ~Jewel
>
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